Mark Carreon: The Mets All-Time Pinch-Hit HR Leader (1987 - 1991)

Mark Steven Carreon was born July 19, 1963, in Chicago, Illinois. 

His father Camilo Carreon was a catcher for the Chicago White sox from 1959-1964.

The six-foot outfielder/ first baseman was a right-handed batter that threw left-handed. In 1981, Carreon was drafted by the New York Mets in the 8th round of the draft. 

Carreon spent two seasons at A-ball getting to AA Jackson by 1984. The next season he batted .313 there getting promoted to Tidewater for the last seven games of the season.

In 1986 as the Mets were winning the World Series Carreon was batting .289 at AAA Tidewater, second on the club in HRs & tied with Dave Magadan for the team lead in RBIs. 

In 1987 Carreon batted .312 earning him a September call up to the Mets big league club. 

Mets Debut: On September 8th, he debuted in a 5-2 win over the Phillies going hitless a pinch hitter. On September 12th, he collected his first career hit coming as pinch hitter off the Cardinals Greg Mathews. 

On the next to last day of the season he drove in his first run, with an RBI single off Lee Tunnel in a 7-1 win over the Cardinals in St. Louis. That year New York (92-70) finished second to the Cards by three games falling out of the race three days earlier. 

1988 Mets NL Eastern Champion Season: Carreon began the year back at AAA Tidewater, where he hit 14 HRs & batted .263 in 102 games for the Tides. He made his first appearance with the Mets in May, going 0-2 as a pinch hitter then returned in September seeing action in five games.

On September 27th, he homered off the Phillies Don Carmen in a 5-4 Met loss. He was not eligible for the post season roster.

1989: On May 18th, Carreon joined the club & this year remained there all season, playing as a reserve outfielder & pinch hitter. 

Mets Single Season Pinch Hit HR Record: In 1989 Carreon would tie a Mets single season pinch hit HRs mark, matching Danny Heeps record set back in 1983. 

On May 12th Carreon hit his first pinch hit HR, coming off the Padres Bruce Hurst, helping Ron Darling & Rick Aguilera in a 3-0 combined shut out in San Diego.

On June 4th Carreon hit a 7th inning pinch hit HR off the Pirates Bob Kipper, breaking a 3-3 tie, leading New York to a 4-3 win over Pittsburgh at Shea Stadium. 

In July he drove in runs in three straight games, all losing efforts. On July 26th he hit his third pinch hit HR, this time in a 3-2 loss in Pittsburgh. 

Record Tying HR: On September 22nd, in Montreal, Carreon led off the top of the 7th inning, breaking a 2-2 tie with a HR off native New Yorker John Candeleria. It was the games winning run, helping Ron Darling to the victory & tying the Mets single season pinch hit record with his fourth HR.

The next game, Carreon homered again in a starting role, in a 13-6 Mets win.

Overall, he enjoyed one of his best Mets seasons batting .308 with 6 HRs 6 doubles 16 RBIs a .370 on base % & .859 OPS in 68 games.

1990: He began the year batting well over .400 in the first seven games.

Multi-RBI Game: On April 16th, Carreon had a big three hit day at Wrigley Field, with a HR & a season high three RBIs in a 10-1 Mets win. The next day he hit a solo HR there in a Mets loss. 

On April 27th, Carreon provided the only run of the game, with a solo HR off the Astros Mark Portugal, helping Frank Viola to the 1-0 shut out.

In a June 13th double header split at Wrigley Field, Mark homered & drove in three runs in the two games. 

Multi- HR Game: On June 17th, Carreon had his only multi-HR game of the season. Hitting both HRs off the Pirates Neal Heaton in the Mets 4-3 win. 

On June 25th, Carreon broke a 2-2 tie in the top of the 3rd inning with a solo HR off John Tudor, giving the Mets the 3-2 lead they held on to for the win.

From July 5th to July 15th in a four-game span in games he appeared in Mark hit two HRs & drove in four runs.

In August he suffered a season ending injury that shut him down for the rest of the year. The Mets won 91 games but finished second to the Pirates by four games.

Carreon batted .250 with 10 HRs 12 doubles 26 RBIs & a .786 OPS in 82 games (188 at bats). He played 60 games at all three outfield positions. 

1991:  In the dismal 1991 season, the Mets fell off to a fifth-place finish, their worst in almost a decade. Carreon saw action in 106 games, playing 77 games at all three outfield positions.

On April 16th, Carreon hit a pinch-hit HR off the Pirates Randy Tomlin, in a losing effort at Pittsburgh. On April 28th, he entered a game against the Pirates at Shea Stadium with the Mets down 7-0. He homered off John Smiley for his seventh career pinch hit HR.

Mets All-Time Pinch-Hit Record: On May 4th, the Mets entered the bottom of the 9th inning down to the Giants 4-2. Mackey Sasser & Carreon hit back-to-back pinch-hit HRs off Jeff Brantley to tie the game. For Carreon it was his third pinch hit HR of the season & the eighth of his career setting a new Mets all-time pinch-hit record. The Mets won the game when Howard Johnson hit a walk off HR in the 12th inning.

Carreon's then went on a HR drought that lasted for three & half months.  On August 21st, in the second game of a doubleheader, he homered off the Cardinals Rheal Cormier in a 7-0 Mets win. The HR came while he was starting in the outfield. Carreon would not hit anymore HRs that season, & he was unable to tie his own single season pinch hit HR record, falling one short.

For the year he batted .260 hitting just four HRs, with six doubles & 21 RBIs. He posted a poor .297 on base % & .628 on base %. 

Post Mets Career: In January 1992 Carreon was traded to the Detroit Tigers for pitcher Paul Gibson. After one season in Detroit batting .232 in 101 games, he signed with the San Francisco Giants.

In 1993 he batted a career best .327 playing in 78 games. In the 1994 the strike shortened 1994 season he followed up batting. 270 in just 51 games played.

In 1995 he was the Giants main first baseman, batting .301 having career highs in HRs (17) & RBIs (65) winning the Willie Mac Award for his leadership to the club. In 1996 he started out great, hitting seven April HRs with 21 RBI while batting .297. But he hit just two more HRs by the All-Star break as his average fell to .260. 

On July 9th, he was traded to the Cleveland Indians who needed a first baseman to back up Julio Franco in the pennant stretch. In 38 games with the first place Indians, he batted .324 with a career high 34 doubles but did not play in the post season.

He was granted free agency then signed on to play in Japan for the Chiba Lotte Marines.

 
Career Stats: In a ten-year career Carreon batted .279 with 557 hits 69 HRs 108 doubles 246 runs scored & 289 RBIs. He struck out 246 times with 140 walks with a .327 on base % & .766 OPS playing in 738 games.

Mets Pinch Hitting Record: As a pinch hitter he hit .280 lifetime, & still holds the Mets record with eight pinch hit HRs.

Drama: In 1999 after returning to the United States, Carreon was arrested for stalking, burglarizing, & kidnapping his ex-wife Donna in Mississippi. Together the couple have three children. Also, his mother & sister in Arizona reported him missing after last hearing from him in in Baton Rouge Louisiana. A week later he turned up ok, after he checked in with his financial advisor after his accounts had been frozen.

In December 2007 he was named as steroid user in the Mitchell Report.

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Camilo Carreon known as "Cam" was born August 6, 1937, in Colton, California. The six foot one right-handed catcher was signed by the Chicago White Sox in 1956.

MLB Debut: Camilo Carreon debuted on the final day of the 1959 AL Champion "Go-Go" Sox regular season.

In 1960 he served his time in the in the United States Army & got to Spring Training camp late. After batting .270 at AAA San Diego in the Pacific Coast League he was brought up to the Sox in June.

On August 15th, 1961, Camillo hit a two-run single off Whitey Ford, which was enough to help Juan Pizzaro in a 2-1 win ending Ford's personal 14 game win streak.

From 1960-1961 Camillo was Sherm Lollar's backup catcher.

In the 1962 & 1963 seasons, he was the White Sox main catcher until 1964 when future 1969 Mets World Series hero: J.C. Martin became the club's main backstop.

Carreon spent six seasons with the White Sox, playing for Hall of Fame Manager: Al Lopez during some of the best years in the club history. In 331 games, he batted .266 with 10 HRs & 105 RBIs.

In 1965 he moved on to the Cleveland Indians playing in 19 games. In 1966 he ended his career playing four games for the Baltimore Orioles.

Career Stats: In an eight-year career Cam batted .264 lifetime with 260 hits 43 doubles 11 HRs 114 RBIs & 113 runs scored. He posted a .331 on base % & .679 OPS. In 320 games at catcher, he threw out 31% of would-be base stealers.

Retirement: After his playing days, he worked for the Tucson Arizona Parks Department & for a golf course. 

Passing: In 1987 Cam passed away at the young age of 50.